Events

July

Community – Wide Read of March Begins

Copies of March by Geraldine Brooks are available at the Tompkins County Public Library, rural libraries (Dryden, Groton, Newfield, and Trumansburg), and community libraries in Danby, Caroline, and Lansing.

Community Read Kick – Off Celebration!

Our kick-off celebration will include a presentation from Jan Turnquist, director of Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott’s famed childhood home. During her presentation, Turnquist will assume the identity of Alcott to tackle 19th century issues like suffrage, abolition, the Underground Railroad, and equal education. Turnquist’s portrayal will also offer insight into Alcott’s unusual family life, including their Utopian community experience, her work as a Civil War nurse, and her lesser-known writings.

Joining the kick-off festivities will be Buffalo-based band City Fiddle. City Fiddle offers a blend of bluegrass, Celtic, and traditional music rich in harmony and energy.

August

Library To Host 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winner John Matteson

Join us for a reading and signing by John Matteson, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book, Eden’s Outcasts: the Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. Eden’s Outcasts explores the complicated relationship of the famed Little Women author and her father, Amos Bronson Alcott. Called “lyrical and thoroughly researched, ” the biography explores the complexities of war, American transcendentalism, abolition, and the unbreakable bond of family.

Copies of Eden’s Outcasts will be available for purchase from the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation on the day of the event.

Movie Night at TCPL

Children, teens, and adults are invited to a showing of the movie adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Classic tale chronicling the lives and loves of four sisters who must rely on each other for strength in the face of tragedies, both large and small, after their father leaves for battle. For more information, please call the Reference Desk at 607-272-4556 (our licensing agreement does not allow us to show the movie’s title).

North Star Shining: New York State’s Freedom Trail – An Illustrated Journey Along the Underground Railroad

This illustrated talk by Milton C. Sernett places the story of the Underground Railroad in the context of the religious and reform movements of the pre-Civil War period, including endeavors such as the temperance crusade and the women’s rights campaign. Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith, Harriet Tubman, Beriah Green and many others come to center stage, as do important events such as the “Jerry Rescue” in Syracuse in 1851. Audiences are encouraged to share their local stories of “Freedom’s Trail.”